Your Right to Know

U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, is a twice-elected congressman who represents a large swath
of eastern Ohio along the Ohio River. So, reporter Joe Vardon notes, you would assume he is plugged
into the issues his constituents care about, or at least the constituents who voted for him in 2010
and 2012.

But perhaps it was a case of people not checking their Twitter feeds last week, as Johnson set
out to connect with those voters through his campaign Twitter account. He asked them to “help me
break 1,000 followers — tell me what current issue is most important to you.” He then added as
possibilities: “#VA #Benghazi #Debt #Obamacare #Coal” — all GOP favorites.

At last check, not a single person had responded to Johnson’s tweet, and it had received just
two re-tweets from Republican operatives, including campaign consultant Mark Weaver. And Johnson
still does not have 1,000 followers.

The defense had just repeatedly sliced up the prosecution’s star witness in last week’s federal
trial of North Canton business owner Ben Suarez, accused of illegally funneling about $200,000 to a
pair of Ohio political campaigns.

When the court took a break, an attorney who had been watching the entire case proclaimed to
reporters in a hallway next to the courtroom in downtown Cleveland: “The government’s
campaign-finance case against Ben Suarez is over!”

Whether that’s reality or hyperbole remains to be seen. The prosecution still has many more
witnesses to call, but none has gotten the advance billing of Michael Giorgio.

The former chief financial officer of Suarez Corp. Industries had worked with Suarez for 28
years and had been a co-defendant. But Giorgio changed his plea to guilty two weeks before the
trial and agreed to testify against his former boss in exchange for the prospect of a lighter
federal prison sentence.

The Suarez trial has been broken up by many “sidebar” conferences, when the attorneys talk with
the judge privately about a legal point of contention. To make it difficult for the audience and
jury to hear what is being discussed, District Court Judge Patricia Ann Gaughan switches on a
device that plays white noise — aka static — over the courtroom’s sound system.

Although the federal courthouse is only perhaps a mile from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Museum, the northern district judges do not follow the lead of their southern district counterparts
in Columbus, who usually play music during their sidebars. Federal-courts reporter Kathy Lynn Gray
notes that observers find it interesting to hear the musical selections based on the judge.